Gov. Dunleavy signs crime package into law with tougher sentences to combat fentanyl crisis

Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy signed a wide-ranging crime measure into law Thursday that seeks to combat the fentanyl epidemic by imposing longer sentences for certain drug offenses.

In the final hectic weeks of the legislative session, House Bill 66 was consolidated with various provisions from other crime legislation. The omnibus crime bill broadly passed the Legislature on the last day of the session in May.

At the Alaska Department of Public Safety’s hangar at Lake Hood in Anchorage, Dunleavy signed HB 66 into law surrounded by members of his cabinet, a bipartisan group of legislators and crime victims who had advocated for the package to pass. He said the 50-page measure represented an “important milestone” in improving public safety.

“I think this is a very important occasion. It’s another benchmark, again for Alaska,” he said.

The measure contains provisions for tougher sentences for stalking; enhanced penalties for committing domestic violence offenses in the presence of a child; renaming child pornography as child sex abuse material in state law; and the imposition of “some additional jail time” for repeated violations of conditions of release from prison, among numerous other changes.

Last year, Alaska reported its highest-ever rate of fatal opioid overdoses. Department of Public Safety Commissioner James Cockrell said Thursday that Alaska law enforcement officers seized 42 million fatal doses of fentanyl in 2023, but 342 Alaskans still died of overdoses.

As a response to the state’s fentanyl crisis, dealing drugs like fentanyl resulting in death can now warrant a second-degree murder charge. Sandy Snodgrass, whose 22-year-old son Bruce Snodgrass died from a fentanyl overdose in 2021, spoke in support of stiffer penalties for “drug-induced homicides.”

”No parent should have to experience the pain of losing a child to such a preventable cause,” she said at Thursday’s signing ceremony. “By enforcing stringent penalties, we can deter others from engaging in this deadly trade.”

Up to now, drug-induced homicides could result in a lesser manslaughter charge. The Alaska Court System reports there were two such manslaughter convictions between 2010 and 2022.

Commenting on HB 66, the ACLU of Alaska opposed a “purely punitive approach” to combating drug overdoses, saying longer sentences would not act as an effective deterrent.

“Focusing on substance misuse prevention, ensuring that all Alaskans have access to high-quality treatment, and recovery support are more effective strategies that recognize this crisis for what it is — a crisis of public health,” the civil rights law firm said in an online statement.

Another key provision in HB 66: Crime victims would no longer need to present in-person at grand juries. Instead, law enforcement officers could summarize a crime victim’s testimony. Victims’ rights groups, like the Alaska Children’s Alliance, have said that could help avoid retraumatizing crime victims, particularly children required to appear in court and domestic violence cases.

John Skidmore, deputy attorney general for the criminal division, said the grand jury changes would not go into effect until January, which would provide time to train those working in the criminal justice system.

“HB 66 makes Alaska a safer place. That’s the bottom line,” he said at the ceremony, adding, “these are monumental changes for us, and something that each and every one of us should be proud of.”

The federal government and 33 states allow so-called “hearsay” evidence to be presented to grand juries to secure an indictment, which is constitutionally required in Alaska for a felony charge to proceed to trial. However, the ACLU of Alaska expressed concerns that allowing hearsay “would erode an important safeguard against misguided prosecution.”

“Grand juries cannot fulfill one of their key duties — to evaluate the truthfulness of testimony — if they do not hear firsthand witnesses, but instead receive only hearsay,” said Michael Garvey, the ACLU of Alaska’s advocacy director, in public testimony in May.

More than two years ago, Angela Harris was stabbed outside Anchorage’s Loussac Library by Corey Ahkivgak, who had randomly attacked two other women months earlier. Ahkivgak had been found to be incompetent to stand trial and had been allowed to walk free after those earlier incidents.

Now, the state would be required to petition for individuals in such cases to be involuntarily committed in a psychiatric facility. The maximum involuntary commitment period also increases from 180 days to a new maximum of two years, among other policy changes.

The ACLU of Alaska said the two-year involuntary commitment periods, and other changes, could violate constitutional due process rights. Mentally ill Alaskans would also effectively be warehoused in the Alaska Psychiatric Institute, which has come under fire in recent years for a lack of beds, the law firm said.

Harris said Thursday that she was “eternally grateful” HB 66 had been signed into law. She has spoken about needing to focus on the state’s mental health system — a point she reiterated at Thursday’s signing ceremony.

“I pray that this is just the beginning of providing assistance with mentally ill persons who are a threat in our state,” she said.

Anchorage Democratic Sen. Matt Claman, chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, was a driving force behind the involuntary commitment provisions and the crime package in general. He thanked Harris for her “fierce and courageous” advocacy. At Thursday’s ceremony, he said that “this legislation will help protect all Alaskans.”

“We’re telling victims that we hear them, and we’re working to minimize the trauma that they experience while seeking justice,” he said about the grand jury changes, in particular.